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Longmont business owners take precautions as burglaries rise

By Madeline St. Amour

Staff Writer

Posted:
02/02/2019 06:00:00 AM MST

Employee Emme Janssen shelves used books on Tuesday at Barbed Wire Books in Longmont. The store was among several affected by smash-and-grab burglaries in late December. The owner, Kathe Heinecken, has taken measures in the hope her store will be better protected in the event of another break-in. (Matthew Jonas / Staff Photographer)

Expert tips on how to protect your business

• Invest in exterior lighting

• Get security cameras

• Install alarms that automatically alert local police

• Buy window film that will make it harder to smash glass

• Keep valuable items out of sight, even during business hours

• Leave cash drawers open

• Be a good neighbor

Two days after Christmas, Longmont police were called for a string of "smash and grab" burglaries at a strip mall in the 100 block of South Main Street.

Sometime overnight, burglars attempted to get into several businesses. They successfully entered three.

"It was really weird, because they smashed a laptop but they left our other laptop alone, and then they stole a safe off the wall," said Michael Wax, owner of Alpha Martial Arts, a business in the area.

This isn't new for Longmont. The overall trend for burglaries in the Denver metro area is going up, according to Longmont police Sgt. Matthew Cage.

In the city, the number of forced entry burglaries at commercial buildings has nearly doubled from 21 in 2013 to 41 in 2018, according to data from Matt Lee, the crime analyst for the department. The data reflects statistics sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation each year.

While the number of forced entries has increased since 2013, it reached an apex at 47 forced entries in 2016 and has steadily declined since then.

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"They come in batches, they come in waves," Cage said. "We spend quite a bit of resources dealing with it."

No bars on windows

The Dec. 27 incident wasn't the first vandalism that Alpha Martial Arts experienced, according to Wax.

A few years ago, an intoxicated man threw a trash can through the front window, he said, but nothing was taken.

This time, the burglars smashed the glass on the front door to get inside. They damaged one laptop, left another and stole a safe that held petty cash off a wall, he said.

Wax has since invested in laminated glass on the doors and plans to not replace the safe, which didn't hold much cash anyway.

"Part of it is just making sure we don't have anything of value that people would want to come in and get," he said. He also is considering putting up signs that indicate there are surveillance cameras in the area.

"Being a martial arts school owner, we tell people from a personal safety standpoint, you don't want people to think of you as an easy target," Wax said. "So keep your head up, be aware of your surroundings."

The day before Christmas Eve, a smash-and-grab burglary happened at Barbed Wire Books, 504 Main St., owner Kathe Heinecken said. The back door was smashed and three cash drawers were stolen.

Heinecken chose not to file a claim with her insurance, as she only had coins in the cash drawers, and suffered a loss of $1,000. She now leaves her cash drawers open at night, and she replaced her backdoor glass with a kind that is more difficult to break.

Heinecken also had an alarm and motion detectors installed in the hopes of being better protected in the event of another break-in.

"I feel pretty good about our ability to withstand another break-in," she said.

However, Heinecken notes that police told her these types of criminals tend to get in and out within 60 seconds. In that case, the effectiveness of an alarm system declines.

Wax also acknowledged the limitations of the steps he was taking toward crime prevention.

This picture shows the damage to the door of Barbed Wire Books after a burglar smashed their way in Dec. 23 and stole three cash drawers from register. (Courtesy photo)

"Unfortunately there's not a lot that you can do," he said. "We're not gonna put security bars on the windows. That wouldn't make sense for a martial arts school."

'Very frustrating' cases

Cage, the Longmont police sergeant, said the burglaries can appear fairly random. Criminals tend to go for places that look like easy targets, but while they sometimes go for registers or safes, police also have seen cases where someone broke a window and stole a bottle of vodka.

"I have not seen much of a trend," he said.

Such cases are difficult to investigate because the crimes are usually not discovered until hours later, so the reports are late. The suspects also often use stolen cars to burglarize stores, so if police get a vehicle description or a surveillance video shot of a car, it can still be difficult to track down who was driving it.

"They are very, very tough and labor-intensive investigations," Cage said.

Kimberlee McKee, executive director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority, said it has have become aware of smash-and-grab burglaries in the downtown area.

At monthly meetings with a business owner group, McKee said that Longmont police alerted the owners to this crime trend that is affecting the Front Range.

"We have sent information to businesses and some have placed signage stating that no cash is left in cash drawers upon closing," McKee said in an emailed statement. "We are continually working to identify strategies to keep Downtown a safe place to gather."

Cage recommends businesses invest in lighted parking lots and store fronts above everything else, because "criminals that do crimes at night like the dark. The dark is their friend."

He also said alarms are helpful, especially if they trigger a call to police so they can quickly investigate the area.

"A lot (of businesses) who have been hit multiple times are putting in alarms," Cage said. He is willing to sit down with any business and work out a security plan if they're concerned.

These cases, he said, are "very frustrating for us."

"There's nothing worse than one of our businesses getting how many dollars worth of damage," he said.

Be good neighbors

Brandon Evans, president and owner of Trident Security in Longmont, said the number of camera systems he has sold has doubled in the last two years. He estimates half of the demand is due to a desire to document workplace incidents for liability reasons, but the other half is for security purposes.

A common discussion he has with business owners is they want cameras installed because of the transient population.

Business owners will say they have people hanging around their businesses, which they don't mind, but if something were to happen, "we want to make sure that we have a record of it," Evans said.

The demand for burglar alarm systems has increased since 2010, Evans said, but there hasn't been any recent upticks.

"The truth of the matter is, there is a response time associated with the alarms," he said. If someone plans to just steal a computer or a bottle of liquor, an alarm might not be a large deterrent.

But, a person's natural instinct is to run when they hear an alarm, and some clients have reported alarms have caused potential burglars to think twice and leave, Evans said.

To protect a business, Evans mostly recommends keeping valuable items out of sight, including during business hours.

"Be aware of what you're letting the public see," he said. If burglars can case a store and see what valuable items are available up front, they will be more likely to burglarize it.

Evans also recommends good lighting, and said exterior lighting is "the best place to spend dollars." He also said criminals sometimes will just go around pulling on doors, as they do with cars, so ensuring that all doors to the business close fully and get locked every day is another effective deterrent.

Spotshots Window Tinting in Longmont also can provide safety and security window film for businesses. Owner Tony Waldhoff said he has seen a jump in sales over the past two years.

Waldhoff uses 3M brand's Ultra Window Film, which has multilayered technology that prevents glass from breaking. Even if a window is shot at, it would still be difficult to rip the film off, he said.

"It won't keep somebody out indefinitely. It's not like bars on windows," Waldhoff said. "It's meant to slow people down or discourage them."

It takes about five minutes to get through the film, and most people will give up after a minute or so. It also makes glass less likely to break.

Evans' final piece of advice is fairly easy, and free.

"We do almost every business on Main Street," Evans said. "I tell them, just be neighborly. If you hear or see something, call the police ... In a community with good neighbors, that stuff happens with less frequency."

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